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American Combat Planes of the 20th Century is an incredible reference for anyone who is interested in any American Combat Plane History. There are 758 pages and 1700 b/w photos in this substantial labor of love by Ray Wagner, who has been passionately researching and writing about aircraft for over 50 years. Whether you are already familiar with his past works, or just discovering this accomplished author for the first time... This is the book that you've been waiting for!

If you'd like to see the book's Table of Contents ... Click here. You can also browse the entire Index Section to get an idea of the extensive amount of information that is covered within this book.

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F-16 Fighting Falcon

Page 3

Desert Storm and after
During Desert Storm, 249 USAF F-16s flew 13,500 sorties, including 40% of coalition bombing sorties. They were employed in close support and interdiction missions, losing five planes in combat to ground fire, since no enemy fighters were encountered. While two squadrons used F-16As, the other eight had F-16Cs with a variety of munitions.

After the war, a 33rd FS F-16D supporting Operation Southern Watch downed an Iraqi MiG-25 on December 27, 1992, in the no-fly zone. This was both the first USAF air-to-air combat victory and the first combat kill by an AIM-120 missile. On January 17, 1993, a MiG-23 became the second victim of an F-16’s AIM-120.

F-16 production continued as orders reached 4,285 by the century’s end. Block 50/52 versions appeared in 1991 with a new ASQ-213 radar-suppression system using two AGM-88A HARM missiles, and an anti-shipping capability was added by AGM–84 Harpoons. Empty weight had increased from 15,587 pounds for F-16A Block 10 to 19,200 pounds for F-16C Block 50. Factories in Fort Worth, Korea and Turkey produced the new versions.

Mid-Life Update (MLU) kits for the F-16A were provided NATO forces in 1998 to modernize their aircraft with new computers having 12 times more memory, GPS navigation systems, AIM-120 missiles and laser-guided bombs. These upgrades required about 2,500 work hours per aircraft. New F-16s appearing with these features in July 1996 are called Block 20 aircraft. While the Air Force did not request new F-16 buys, Congress “added a few planes per year to maintain a production capability.”* F-16's for Foreign Nations

Of 2,233 F-16s ordered for the USAF, 1,412 served 12 Air Force, four Reserve, and 28 ANG Fighter Wings on September 30, 2000. A Common Configuration Implementation Program was planned to update F-16s for the new century, while 30 more Block 50 aircraft were ordered for delivery from 2002-2004.

Some former USAF F-16s had found a new life elsewhere. Israel had received 36 ex-USAF F-16As and 14 F-16Bs in 1994. Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in July 1994 and became a non-NATO ally of America. A July 1996 agreement called Peace Falcon brought 16 Block 15s out of storage at Davis-Monthan AFB. Upgraded with F100-PW-220E engines and new systems, 12 F-16As and four F-16Bs arrived in Jordan from December 1997 to March 1998.

On July 10, 2000, the United Arab Emirates was authorized 55 single-seat and 25 two-seat Block 60 Desert Falcons with 32,500-pound thrust General Electric F110-GE-132 engines and advanced electronics, ensuring F-16 production into 2006.

Pakistan received 28 F-16A and 12 F-16B Block 15 Falcons from January 1983 to March 1986. Two squadrons formed with those fighters patrolled the Afghanistan border during the wartime Soviet occupation, and by November 1988 claimed to have downed about eight intruding Afghan or Soviet aircraft with their AIM-7L missiles. Another Pakistan F-16 order was blocked by the United States in 1990.

The Republic of Korea began with 40 block 32 aircraft from Fort Worth in 1987 and, beginning in 1991, added 120 Block 50 F-16C/Ds with 12 completed at Fort Worth, 36 from kits assembled at Sachon by Samsung, and 72 KF-16s produced under license by Samsung from 1994 to 2000. An order for 20 more Block 50 aircraft from Samsung would be added in July 2002.

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